Bishy Road Begins

My earliest memory is being held in my Dad’s arms, travelling on the train from Kings Cross to York in the winter of 1962. I was only two when our whole family moved north from Sittingbourne, Kent, up to Acomb, York.

Millies and the Pig and Pastry, York

Life has moved us all in varied directions but last year saw us clearing the last of our dear Dad’s belongings from his home. We would get going early on and set ourselves a bookshelf to clear, or a cupboard to sort but it would always be followed by a treat…morning coffee out somewhere and The Pig and Pastry was a regular treat!

So after all these years I got to know the Bishy Road. What a community – I had to draw your street!

My drawings always begin with an old OS map and this too began with the old OS street maps in York library, then a sketch. I aim to catch all the architectural details as I hope my drawings will stand as an archive of our streetscapes as they stand at present.

Pencil sketch of Bishy road – I sketch it all out full length before I work on the final drawing.

It is gradually taking shape on a 1.8 metre length of 300gsm water colour paper. For this drawing, I am working in permanent Indian inks: sepia and terracotta and using a mapping pen rather than my usual fixed width Rotring technical pen. It has more variety in the line. Let’s see how it goes!

First lines of pen and ink

Thanks for reading…oh and I have not forgotten about the south side of the street – that’s up my sleeve.